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Page 182 - It has actually happened within a few years last past, in New England, and I believe, in other parts of the country, that there has been a system of lay visitation of the clergy for the purpose of counselling, admonishing, and urging them up to their duty ; and that these selfcommissioned apostles, two and two, have gone from town to town, and from district to district of the country, making inquisition at the mouth of common...

Page 181 - New-England, a non-conformist minister, from the old country, is represented to have said, after a little experience on this side of the water, " I left England to get rid of my lords, the bishops ; but here I find in their place my lords, the brethren and sisters ; save me from the latter, and let me have the former.

Page 182 - When the enmity of a single individual is sufficient to destroy a resident pastor's peace, and to break him up, how can he be otherwise than servile, if he has a family about him, to whom perpetual change is inconvenient and disastrous ? There is not a man in his flock, however mean and unworthy of influence, whom he does not fear ; and if he happens to displease a man of importance, or a busy woman, there is an end to his peace; and he may begin to pack up. This perpetual bondage breaks down his...

Page 44 - ... The profligacy of newspapers, wherever they exist, is a universal complaint ; and, of all newspaper presses, I never heard any one deny that the American is the worst. Of course, this depravity being so general throughout the country, it must be occasioned by some overpowering force of circumstances. The causes are various ; and it is a testimony to the strength and purity of the democratic sentiment in the country, that the republic has not been overthrown by its newspapers.

Page 182 - Never since the days of the apostles, was a country blessed with so enlightened, pious, orthodox, faithful, willing clergy, as the United States of America at this moment; and never did a ministry, so worthy of trust, have so little independence to act according to their conscience and best discretion. They are literally the victims of a spiritual tyranny that has started up and burst upon the world in a new form —at least, with an extent of sway that has never been known. It is an influence which...